Randy Smith Tired Of "Wizards And Bionic-Warriors"

30 Jun 2010 by Paul Younger

Talking with RockPaperShotgun, former Looking Glass Studios designer and 2009 IGF-winner Randy Smith has expressed some disappointment in the inability of "immersive sims" (such as Deus Ex or Fallout 3) to evolve much beyond their current state.

"The way we've done immersive sims in the past has very much been focused on Sci-fi and Fantasy story-lead adventures" Smith said, "I really hope the simulations we start working on have ... less about wizards and bionic-warriors who work for shadow governments. That stuff is interesting and cool, but we’re a little stuck in it."

"[Videogames] seem to think they can keep on making the same game forever, whether it's a racing game or an immersive sim or whatever."
Smith feels developers need to get out of this rut if any progress is to be made.

"When I think of the deeper future of games, much like the excitement we tapped into back in the 90s and thinking about what's the coolest, newest thing we can do with a game ... It needs to be something that people haven't done with the sub-genre before" he said. "And people don't really think about making games this way. They think 'Wouldn't it be cool to be a bionic assassin.' Which is kind of sad."

"I really do love the sub-genre and think you can do good stuff with it … but it's not where my heart is right now."

Talking with RockPaperShotgun, former Looking Glass Studios designer and 2009 IGF-winner Randy Smith has expressed some disappointment in the inability of “immersive sims” (such as Deus Ex or Fallout 3) to evolve much beyond their current state.

“The way we’ve done immersive sims in the past has very much been focused on Sci-fi and Fantasy story-lead adventures” Smith said, “I really hope the simulations we start working on have … less about wizards and bionic-warriors who work for shadow governments. That stuff is interesting and cool, but we’re a little stuck in it.”

“[Videogames] seem to think they can keep on making the same game forever, whether it’s a racing game or an immersive sim or whatever.”
Smith feels developers need to get out of this rut if any progress is to be made.

“When I think of the deeper future of games, much like the excitement we tapped into back in the 90s and thinking about what’s the coolest, newest thing we can do with a game … It needs to be something that people haven’t done with the sub-genre before” he said. “And people don’t really think about making games this way. They think ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to be a bionic assassin.’ Which is kind of sad.”

“I really do love the sub-genre and think you can do good stuff with it … but it’s not where my heart is right now.”

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